Elisabeth Hosner, Vilnius 02/03 March 2004 Slide 1 Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, Austria The Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive its Implementation and Challenges TAIEX Seminar on Management of Water Resources – River Basin Management in the Baltic Region Vilnius, March 2004 Elisabeth Hosner, BMLFUW, Austria

Elisabeth Hosner, Vilnius 02/03 March 2004 Slide 2 Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, Austria UWWTD - Objectives l Waste water collection and treatment in all agglomerations above p.e. l Appropriate waste water treatment in all agglomerations below p.e., if collected l Biological treatment (secondary) as standard requirement l More stringent treatment (tertiary) in sensitive areas and their relevant catchment areas

Elisabeth Hosner, Vilnius 02/03 March 2004 Slide 3 Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, Austria UWWTD - Objectives l Exceptions for marine waters (“less sensitive areas”) possible - mechanical (primary) treatment l Provisions for industrial discharges into urban waste water collecting systems l Provisions for certain industrial discharges into water bodies (agro-food industry) l Provisions for sustainable disposal of sewage sludge

Elisabeth Hosner, Vilnius 02/03 March 2004 Slide 4 Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, Austria Major Deadlines for Member States 31/12/1993 legal transposition 31/12/1993 identification of sensitive areas 31/12/1998 sensitive areas > p.e. 31/12/2000 normal areas > p.e. 31/12/2005 normal areas > p.e. <2 000 (10 000) p.e.

Elisabeth Hosner, Vilnius 02/03 March 2004 Slide 5 Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, Austria UWWTD – Transitional periods The scope for transitional periods was based on the time schedule foreseen in the Directive Sensitive areas 7,5 years for agglomerations > p.e. Normal areas 9,5 years for agglomerations > p.e. 9,5 years for industry (Art.13) >4.000 p.e. 14,5 years for agglomerations > p.e. > p.e. 14,5 years for agglomerations <2.000 (10 000) p.e.

Elisabeth Hosner, Vilnius 02/03 March 2004 Slide 6 Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, Austria T ransitional Periods granted by the EC State agglo. no p.e. transitional periods Estonia /2010 Lithuania /2009 Latvia /2011/2015 Czech Republic /2006/2010 Poland* /2010/2013/2015 Hungary /2010/2015 Slovenia /2010/2015 Cyprus /2009/2011/2012 Slovakia /2015 Malta /2004/2006/2007 *Poland applies Art. 5.4 and will achieve 86% of the load in The information was kindly provided by the European Commission.

Elisabeth Hosner, Vilnius 02/03 March 2004 Slide 7 Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, Austria Accession negotiations for UWWT Requirements for date of accession: Legal transposition Identification of sensitive areas Detailed implementation programme with intermediate targets, time schedule and investment forecast Negotiation of transitional periods

Elisabeth Hosner, Vilnius 02/03 March 2004 Slide 8 Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, Austria Identification of sensitive areas - CS Sensitive areas require more stringent treatment e.g. the removal of nitrogen and/or phosphorus, microbiological treatment,...   Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, The Czech Republic and Slovakia identified their entire territory as sensitive or applied Article 5.8   Hungary, Slovenia, and Cyprus identified parts of their territory as sensitive   Malta has no sensitive areas in terms of the UWWT Directive

Elisabeth Hosner, Vilnius 02/03 March 2004 Slide 9 Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, Austria Identification of sensitive areas - MS Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, The Netherlands, and Sweden, identified their entire territory as sensitive or applied Article 5.8 Germany identified almost its entire territory as sensitive France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom identified parts of their territory as sensitive

Elisabeth Hosner, Vilnius 02/03 March 2004 Slide 10 Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, Austria State of Play in “old” Member States Waste Water Treatment in the EU 2000*/2002* Total organic load in the EU (mio p.e.): 443* Discharging into sensitive areas 41%* Discharging into normal areas: 59%* Conformity with the deadlines: 1998 (sensitive areas): 198 mio p.e. (36 %) <50 % conformity 2000 (normal areas): 262 mio p.e. (59 %) ~75 % conformity* * rough estimations by the EC; the information is not yet published.

Elisabeth Hosner, Vilnius 02/03 March 2004 Slide 11 Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, Austria Links between UWWTD and WFD   Provisions of the UWWTD are minimum requirements - to be taken into account in the river basin management plans   Exemptions of the WFD cannot be applied to the UWWTD   Additional waste water treatment measures, if the quality objectives of the WFD are not met   Flexibility in implementation is only given for small agglomerations

Elisabeth Hosner, Vilnius 02/03 March 2004 Slide 12 UWWTD Emission based objectives Infrastructure provisions WFD River basin management Emission and quality objectives Pressures and impact Programmes of measures Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, Austria Links between WWT and WFD Links/overlaps: Impact Monitoring Reporting Measures Different deadlines Still different reporting obligations and periods

Elisabeth Hosner, Vilnius 02/03 March 2004 Slide 13 Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, Austria Challenges to be solved by new MS   Combined implementation of both Directives   Management plans should consider the requirements of both Directives   Harmonised monitoring, data collection and reporting from the beginning

Elisabeth Hosner, Vilnius 02/03 March 2004 Slide 14 Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, Austria Experiences in Austria and other MS Do: an accurate legal implementation Solve: the discrepancies between existing national law and EU law Do not underestimate: the organisation and resources for reporting obligations Enhance: the collaboration between all administrative levels and operators Enhance, organise: the dissemination of information Decide wisely about: UWWT Management – “big“ centralised or small scaled decentralised solutions Do: use financial resources in a sustainable way

Elisabeth Hosner, Vilnius 02/03 March 2004 Slide 15 Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, Austria EU activities to be expected Verification of the legal transposition (Verification of the identification of sensitive areas) Compliance check of deadlines Evaluation of reporting obligations   Setting and following legal actions in case of breaches of community law Technical support Financial support

Elisabeth Hosner, Vilnius 02/03 March 2004 Slide 16 Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, Austria EC activities to be expected Technical support: Workshop on reporting issues More guidance on open issues? (definitions, agglomerations, monitoring aspects) Harmonisation of reporting obligations (periods, content, format) Workshop for new Member States in relation to upcoming reporting obligations (situation reports, implementation programmes, etc.) Forecast of verification activities More support on extensive waste water treatment technologies?

Elisabeth Hosner, Vilnius 02/03 March 2004 Slide 17 Reporting obligations under the UWWTD presented by the Commission in the UWWT Committee Meeting September 2003 Legal transposition Article 17 Programmes Article 15 Monitoring Identification of sensitive areas Deadlines/ Transitional periods Article 16 Situation reports EC- Verifications initiatives remains to be adapted

Elisabeth Hosner, Vilnius 02/03 March 2004 Slide 18 Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, Austria Investment costs   The Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive requires the construction of waste water treatment infrastructure   Its implementation implicates significant investments for Member States and Candidate States It represents the most cost intensive piece of environmental legislation

Elisabeth Hosner, Vilnius 02/03 March 2004 Slide 19 Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, Austria EU Funding instruments for CS/MS Funding instruments for Candidate States Phare Sapard ISPA Funding instruments for Member States Structural Funds Cohesion Funds Others Life, Interegg,… EC Funding guidelines

Elisabeth Hosner, Vilnius 02/03 March 2004 Slide 20 Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, Austria Contact persons for Funding issues in the EC DG ENV: Cohesion Fund: Isabel Duarte, DG ENV G.4, tel.: , Structural Fund: Jonathan Parker, DG ENV G.4, tel.: , ISPA: George Pinto Antunes, E.1, tel.: george.pinto PHARE: Anne Burrill, DG ENV E.1, tel.: , DG REGIO: All ENV issues: Werner Simon, Unit A2, tel.: , Programmes in Baltic States, Poland: Friedemann Allgayer, Unit F2 Tel.: ,

Elisabeth Hosner, Vilnius 02/03 March 2004 Slide 21 Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, Austria Contacts for technical information DG ENV.B.1, UWWT: Violeta Vinceviciene Tel.: EC, DG ENV - water web page:

Elisabeth Hosner, Vilnius 02/03 March 2004 Slide 22 Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management, VII/2, Austria Outlook and Challenges l l Financial challenge to provide and maintain the required waste water infrastructure l l Technical challenge to integrate the UWWT implementation in the river basin management plans of the WFD and to meet the high standards and tight deadlines l l Administrative challenge to get the implementation right and the reporting obligations done l l Chance for the protection of all water bodies across Europe